Book Review - Scandalands by Kyle Sandilands

I decided to read Kyle Sandilands biography 'Scandalands' because, to be honest, I really didn't like him and I thought this would give me a better understanding of his character and the way he thinks.I tried to read his book with an open mind, after all he continually has one of the highest rating radio segments in Sydney,so there must be something endearing about him, right?

I'll start with the positives. The book is well written and incredibly honest, it really was hard to put down.
To say he had a difficult childhood would be an understatement, having lived on the streets for over a year gave Kyle a real heart for the underdog.

I found it interesting that Kyle desperately wanted to be a policeman in his teenage years and I laughed reading about his escapades pretending to be an undercover policeman, keeping the streets of Brisbane safe from troublemakers..........until he got caught.

Kyle had even stronger ambitions to work in radio. If nothing else, Kyle is proof that if you want to achieve something with all your heart it can be done. The only obstacle was himself. ok, enough of the niceties.

I spent most of the book picking my jaw up off the floor. I learnt a number of things, if you negotiate hard enough and never back down you will get anything you want. However there seems to be a fine line between Kyle pushing himself to achieve his goals or becoming a down right bully. It appears Kyle had insulted, yelled, sworn at and belittled almost everyone in the radio world. Funnily enough, a lot of the time he got his way.

It's very difficult not to judge Kyle negatively and he certainly isn't scared of telling the warts and all truth. Chapter eleven was certainly an eye opener. As he said in his own words, I hope Nan doesn't read chapter eleven, I wish I hadn't read chapter eleven!

What conclusion did I come to at the end of the book? I'm sure Kyle has lost a lot of friends on his way to the top and I doubt he will ever obtain the respect the audiences have shown to John Laws and Alan Jones, however, I'm glad I read Kyle's biography but sadly, my opinion hasn't changed.

Ann.